Wed, 23 May 2012 08:51:31 -0800WeeblySun, 20 May 2012 09:54:54 -0800http://www.andrenebonner.com/1/post/2012/05/for-give.htmlWhere is your Give in the Forgive

...Andrene Bonner ]]>Sun, 20 May 2012 09:53:01 -0800http://www.andrenebonner.com/1/post/2012/05/flashback-to-flashforward.html]]>Sun, 15 Apr 2012 07:20:40 -0800http://www.andrenebonner.com/1/post/2012/04/nanny-wakes-up.htmlNanny Wept
by Andrene Bonner

Next morning, I woke up to the crowing of a noisy akokכ. Some Bantu sounding women were fanning red peas they were laying out to dry on the porch around the water tank. The purple mountains looked so at peace with the sky but I ached from the long journey. I ached from the pain in my belly. I ached from not knowing what my life would be like in this land. I ached because I did not smell Ma Esi making morning kכ fe with fish and fresh baked bread, and calling out to me – 'Come my Nana—kכ fe is ready.’ I ached because I did not hear my papa whisling for me to come with him to shoot birds for lunch time soup. I ached because my brothers were not loading the donkey with כde and akye-fufu and laughing loud about pretty girls they hope to meet at the market. I ached because my junior cousins were not screaming and playing. I ached because I could not enjoy the clouds that spun circles around the belly of the sun or the fresh air that felt like a Kumasi morning in the spring. I ached. I ached. I ached. I cried.   

]]>Sat, 31 Mar 2012 20:24:30 -0800http://www.andrenebonner.com/1/post/2012/03/happy-birthday-pops.htmlOne hundred and one;
Today we celebrate you,
Pops Egbert our dad.
(March 31, 1911 - April 24, 1972) ]]>Sun, 04 Mar 2012 06:24:56 -0800http://www.andrenebonner.com/1/post/2012/03/blue-mountain-queen.htmlToday, I will be doing a private reading of my latest work, "Blue Mountain Queen: A Story of Nanny of the Jamaican Maroons." It has been quite a journey with the sage. ]]>Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:41:07 -0800http://www.andrenebonner.com/1/post/2012/02/queen-nanny-speaks.htmlI came out of my mother’s womb fighting—fighting to rid the spider webs from across my face. They say that when you are born with webs over your face you possess special powers. My great grandmother, Yaa said that my mother slept for nearly a month because she was so tired from birthing me. She said—this child must have the spirit of ten men. My papa says I am a child with Akan fighting blood in me. (Excerpt from my latest work, "Blue Mountain Queen." For Release 2012)

]]>Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:26:46 -0800http://www.andrenebonner.com/1/post/2012/02/black-history-musing.html"If the Negro is inferior why circumvent him; why suppress his talent and initiative; why rob him of his independent gift; why fool him out of his rights of his country; why imprison his intelligence; why keep him down with the law of equality?" ---The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey ]]>Sun, 08 Jan 2012 07:09:24 -0800http://www.andrenebonner.com/1/post/2012/01/jean-wilsons-poem.htmlNo More Smalling Up Of Me 
Jean Wilson  
     
No more meekly saying 'yes'
When my heart is screaming 'no'
No more taming of my feelings
So my power won't show
No more hiding my exuberance
From disapproving eyes
No more watering down myself
So my spirit won't rise

No more 'smalling up' of me
Pretending I am not here
No more running from the music
And the spotlight's glare
No more living in this prison
Barricaded by my fears
No more turning and retreating
In the face of new frontiers

Even as I am speaking
I am taking shape and form
Harnessing my powers
Like a gathering storm
There's no obstacle so bold
As to dare stand in my way
I am taking back my life
And I am doing it today.

Jean Wilson is one of my favorite Jamaican writers. "No More Smalling Up of Me" is the title poem of her poetry book.  


]]>Sun, 04 Dec 2011 11:39:45 -0800http://www.andrenebonner.com/1/post/2011/12/mother-tongue-on-fire.htmlMother Tongue on Fire
By Andrene Bonner

The language of her pain
is dark and dreary like
a deep unfathomed sea; but
the language of her soul
asserts that His redeeming
love makes her want to sing
until the fullness of her time
is realized in this earth flesh.

]]>Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:03:23 -0800http://www.andrenebonner.com/1/post/2011/11/talking-these-trade-winds.htmlTalking These Trade Winds
By Andrene Bonner

What of the wind tonight
Weeping these Blue Mountains
Tree branches conspire
Birds need find new rest.

What of the wind tonight
The haunting dessert whistles
Like songbirds in distress
Dogs howl and children hide.

What of the wind tonight
Three days uprooted crops
Blew away helpless fronds
Raise frocks high as acacia tree.

What of the wind tonight
Make forest fires cruel burn
Like hot desires atop lovers leap
Now desolate of passion’s flames.

What of the wind tonight
Fierce like man strong enough
To contemplate prison doors open
For poor man’s freedom come.

What of the wind tonight
Ancestral duppies like feral horses
Demand a proper burial
Raucous like thunder rolling.

What of the wind tonight
Echoing drums of Asante warriors
Beating down the oppressors
From Accompong to Nanny Town.

What of the wind tonight
Resonates the lip service of
Propaganda politricking as if
To better educate the masses.

What of the wind tonight
These talking trade winds that
Speak of time on this here island
Seem as if it’s going to rain.

]]>